Wardrobe and it's meanings
We all love re-watching and catching new things the day and week after, especially the day before the finale now. I had posted in my own little open thread original post about wardrobe but I think there's something else.
I had said that Pete and Trudy looked surprisingly like Kurt and Smitty in the end where Mr. Company is now feeling like Mr. Rebel. I think that was MM attention to detail.
I also mentioned Jane wearing black to the wedding as I thought women weren't supposed to do. But that black to a wedding thing was debatable on the thread and that's ok. The point was about the MM attention to detail in putting Jane in black, whatever any of us think.
Now check this out. The finale last season opened with Betty in the Dr's office sitting on the table in a gray dress, not exactly thrilled. It was a scene that defined her future in a way, in a position to say yes or no, leave or stay if you will, regarding the obvious situation of hers.
Here, now, when she comes home to Don at the end of this episode and tells him she doesn't love him, I swear she's wearing the same dress. And if it's not, it's way too close to similar to be a coincidence. I think it's not an accident. And it's the same situation, she has a moment of leave or stay, a moment of decision-making as the end of last year.
Kind of like Pete and the rifle. Last season at a defining moment for Pete we saw him with the rifle by himself after Peggy's news. In the first cut this past episode we see Pete on the couch (in the fetal position before he's about to "grow out" of SC but that's beside the point and should be a whole new topic for another thread), and the rifle as a reminder in the background, of Pete who is about to again have a defining moment.
A dress and a rifle both making a reappearance at defining moments. Attention to detail. How do people not love this show???
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Greg, your observations are incredibly astute, and I've often connected what the characters on MM are wearing, used as a foreshadowing mechanism by Weiner and Bryant, or as a mirror to their surroundings, circumstance, challenges and inner conflict.
Your catch on JJ's dress in both the Dr's office, when she had her fears confirmed that she was pregnant, which the ball was now in Betty's court, to decide what she wanted to do, as well as when she confronted Don with her devastating blow of "I don't love you anymore."
Joan has worn the most brilliant jewel tone colored dresses when she's had major events happen in her life(the red dress, where she puts her foot down to Roger in the hotel room, about the kind of relationship they will have, the green dress, when Guy's foot is sawed off). One migration from this was : Do you remember the astonishingly somber black dress she wore out, the night she was called to SC, because Roger suffered a heart attack? Talk about foreshadowing! And talk about an important costume choice.
Trudy looked like she already owned the dance floor, long before she and Pete cut an impressive rug at the Derby party, in her magnificent party dress and decorative hat that screamed, "Look at me! I'm fabulous!" I knew something was up, by her costume choice.
Kitty wore a striking red dress the night Salvatore and she hosted Ken, which would be her first inkling that her hubby may have interest in the other team, but do you remember that gorgeous green babydoll she wore this season, when she connected the pieces of the puzzle about Salvatore, when he acted out the Patio commercial he directed?
The choice made, to have Draper in a beautiful heather grey suit, and Betty in her la dolce vita viper dress, in Rome. There in Rome, Don was able to witness Betty's full beauty and sexual power, and for one of the first times, we see Don a bit vulnerable-looking. As we now know, there definitely was more to come, of Don's growing vulnerability in their marriage.
I could go on, but Weiner and Janie Bryant certainly know what they're doing, as the costumes are just as much of a starring lead character in MM as the actors are!
Also, I'm incredibly curious about the liberal use of the color blue in this season, despite the obvious choice, to name one of the episodes, 'The Color Blue'.
Betty even had a blue scarf wrapped around her neck, during her confronting Don with not loving him anymore, scene.
So many of the costumes this season have blue in them. I'm still not quite sure what it means, but I've been contemplating and reflecting on it, for quite some time....
Betty's dress is not the same in both scenes mentioned.
Z, I think it is the same garment. It's altered, the buttons etc but I think they do this stuff on purpose
Stage: GREAT with the Joan/Roger heart attack. Why did they write her out of this season??
Greg, I went back into the photo gallery to compare the two dresses. The necklines of the two are different, and while both dresses have full skirts, one dress has knife pleats and the other does not. Also they are of completely different fabrics. They are of similar color, I think, with long sleeves. You may be right that the dress Betty wore for Episode 12 was chosen to recall the scene in the doctor's office, as the style and are similar, but they are two different dresses.
As for your question of how can people not love this show, it beats me. It is far and away the best progam on the air. I am expecting major depression to set in once tonight's episode is over. My one hope is that we will be treated to re-runs all winter beginning with Season 1. Yeah, I know, but a girl can dream, can't she?
A dress and a rifle...Jackie's dress and Oswald's rifle....
Z, Ok I'll defer to you. My first glance, I thought it was the same one and they did it on purpose and I thought we caught another one of those little things they do, here with Betty. But the show wouldn't be the show if we didn't have these details to hash out. This is what's good, these little point/counterpoints. Good eye.
Well, I am not good at picking up on all the little tricks Mr. Weiner and company use on Mad Men, so I am always grateful when my fellow Maddicts point them out to me. There are so many layers to this show, there is no way to just watch it once, and forget about it for a week until the next episode.
I'm not always good at picking up all of MW's nuances either. I always need to watch the show twice (at least) to make sure I didn't miss anything! It's so rare when a show is that good!!! Although I am eagerly awaiting tonight's episode, I'm going to be so sad when it ends, as I won't know what to do on Sunday nights. This season has been amazing! My only complaints are that there wasn't enough of Joan, and I hated seeing Sal get fired! Although I do understand that they had to write it that way, or it wouldn't have been appropriate to the times(This was pre-Stonewall!) It still made me angry!